Pataudi was always a vocal critic of BCCI

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Despite being a part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi never minced words when it came to criticising its powerful administration.

Pataudi was a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Premier League (IPL) before stepping down last year. He dragged the BCCI to the court earlier this year over non-payment of dues worth Rs.1.16 crore.

When reports of financial irregularities in the IPL emerged, Pataudi said the allegations must be looked into.

“The baby is clean, the water is dirty. We would like everything to be inquired. We want to know where this money came from, how it came, who it belongs to, who got help and didn’t get help. Everything has to come out; you can’t leave a path of it. Now you have started the procedure, please complete it completely, so that at least people get some confidence back in you,” Pataudi had said.

Last year, at a seminar on the occasion of the 75th birth anniversary of late Raj Singh Dungarpur, Pataudi said: “The ICC is the voice of cricket but BCCI is the invoice.”

He also wanted the BCCI to come down hard on gambling.

“The BCCI has a lot of central cabinet ministers and also leaders of opposition parties in their ranks. So, they should lobby for more stringent rules against gambling as 70 per cent of money and 80 per cent of the viewership comes from India,” he said.

Pataudi always believed that suspended IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi was a fighter and would not go down without a fight.

“He is a fighter. Lalit has always been a fighter. I expect him to go down fighting,” he said.

In his last days, Pataudi was extremely upset to see the Indian team suffer a whitewash in the Test series against England and lose the Pataudi Trophy, which was named after him and his father. He crictised the players for playing with injuries.

“There wasn’t any competition in this series…People are paid to play in IPL with an injury and miss out a national commitment… I don’t think it is fair,” he said.

He was ignored by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) during the post-series presentation ceremony where English captain Andrew Strauss was officially handed the sponsors’ trophy, rather the Pataudi Trophy.